NT Sunday School Lesson 23 (JF): Luke 22:1-38; John 13-15

Posted by Jim F. on June 4, 2011

With this lesson we begin to read about the part of Christ’s life that is traditionally called “the Passion,” the time between the Last Supper and his death on the cross. The word “passion” and the word “passive” are related terms.

Why is this part of Jesus’ life called the Passion? The longest part of each of the New Testament gospels is the part describing the Passion. As Latter-day Saints, our tendency is to focus on the resurrection rather than the Passion. Why do you think the gospels give so much attention to the Passion? Does 1 Corinthians 1:17-2:16 explain that attention? Why might the Book of Mormon focus its attention, instead, on the resurrection—or does it? What should our focus be today?

The Jerome Bible Commentary, a Catholic commentary, says that in the Passion stories of Matthew and John we are invited to worship Jesus as we see him completing his mission as the Son of God, that Mark’s way of telling the story invites us to sorrow at the events that conclude his earthly ministry, and that Luke’s gospel asks us to accompany Jesus as he suffers and to see ourselves in people like Simon of Cyrene, Peter, and the “good thief.” Do you think that characterization of these accounts is accurate? How might each way of reading the story be important to us? Are there other ways of reading it? If you had been a witness of these events, how would you have written about them? What would have been your focus? Why?

Verses 1-6: Why does Luke introduce the story of the Last Supper by telling us of the plot to kill Jesus? What does this contrast show us?

Verses 7-13: The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of the Passover are two different, but back-to-back feasts. However, some writers, such as Josephus, conflate the two, presumably because they are writing for a nonJewish audience to whom the difference is irrelevant. Luke seems to be doing this in verse 7. Is it significant that Luke says that the Passover (in other words, the lamb for the Passover meal) must be killed? (Compare Luke 9:22.)

Verses 14-20: In verse 15, the phrase “with desire I have desired” is a Hebrew colloquialism. It means “I have greatly desired.”

When will Christ once again partake of the Sacrament? What is the significance of that delay? How is our taking of the Sacrament related to his?

In verse 19 the Greek word for “remembrance” is a word for forgetfulness with a negative prefix (anamnēsis: “unforgetfulness”). It suggests that to remember is to no longer forget. What are we to stop forgetting? How do we forget the body and blood of Christ? How do we stop forgetting them?

The Old Testament often speaks of the Lord remembering his people. What does that have to do with the Sacrament? How is our memory of him linked to his memory of us?

How are the various parts of the Sacrament ordinance significant? For example, what might the cloth covering the bread and water represent? How is Christ’s body symbolically significant in the ordinance? his blood? Why are eating and drinking important to the ordinance?

What kinds of symbolic significance does eating have? A nonChristian reading this for the first time could not escape seeing cannabilistic symbolism in verses 19-20. As Christians, what do we see? What does that symbolism teach us? Are we supposed to recognize the possible gruesome implications of the symbol?

In contrast, what does the symbol of nourishment teach us?

We use the word “testament”: when we speak of a “last will and testament.” What does the word mean in that case? How is that relevant to the use of the word in verse 20? The word translated “testament” could also have been translated “covenant.” How is the ordinance of the Sacrament a covenant?

Verses 21-23: If it was necessary for Jesus to die on the cross, why does he condemn Judas for bringing that event to pass? What do we learn about our own lives from the fact that Judas was one of the Twelve?

Verses 24-27: If we assume that the disciples are people like ourselves, what do we learn about ourselves from verses 23-24?

Is it significant that the verses about Judas and about the argument over who will be greatest come immediately after the introduction of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper? (Mark and Matthew put it before.) What might that juxtaposition suggest about the ordinance? about us?

The word “benefactors” translates a title that the Syrian kings gave to themselves.

The word translated “servant” indicates one who waits on another and provides his or her necessities, a slave. What does it mean to say that Christ has come among us as one who serves? How does he wait on us? How does he provide our necessities?

In verse 27 Jesus specifically compares himself to a table waiter. Take the analogy between Christ and the waiter as literally as you can. Does that show you anything about what Christ-like service means?

In John 13:4-5, do we see Jesus demonstrate the kind of service he means? Did the disciples understand what he was talking about then? (See John 13:6-10.) Does their inability to understand suggest anything about us and our understanding? What safeguards against misunderstanding do we have?

Verses 28-30: The word translated “temptations” in verse 28 can also be translated “trials” or “adversities.”

How is the fact that the disciples have stayed with him through his adversities relevant to what follows in verse 29?

The Greek word translated “appoint” has the same root as the word “covenant,” so we could translate the beginning of verse 29 as “And I covenant unto you a kingdom.” How has the Father covenanted a kingdom to the Son? How is our covenant with him like his covenant with the Father? What is the difference between being covenanted a kingdom and being promised one? between being covenanted one and being contracted to receive one?

John 13-17 are a long sermon in which Jesus gives his disciples the last teachings of his mortal ministry. This week we will look at a few passages in the first three of those chapters.

Verses 31-35: When Jesus says “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him” (emphasis added) to what time does “now” refer? to that very moment immediately after the departure of Judas? To the events that are just beginning?

What does it mean to be glorified? What does it mean for God to be glorified in the Son?

Neither the Jews nor the disciples can follow Jesus, but what is the difference between them?

Why does Jesus give the new commandment in the context in which he gives it? Specifically, why does he give it immediately after telling them that he is going to leave them? How is this commandment new? New compared to what? Compare Leviticus 19:18. Is this new commandment different than that commandment?

How has Christ loved us? The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) teaches about neighborly love. Is Christ’s love for us the same as the love for the neighbor that we see in that parable? Compare verse 34 with John 15:12-13. Do those verses shed any light on the new commandment? How does verse 13 of John 15 add to the meaning of verse 12?

Verses 1-3: It is important to remember that these verses follow immediately after Jesus’ prophecy to Peter that he will deny him three times. The break we perceive when we read the scriptures is an artificial one. It wasn’t there when John wrote his gospel. Read John 13:36-38 and John 14:1-3, without making a break between them. Does that make a difference in your understanding of the interaction between Christ and Peter?

Verses 15-24: Is verse 15 a commandment or is it a statement of fact: those who love me keep my commandments? Could we love Christ and not strive to keep his commandments?

There are many kinds of love, some involve strong emotions, for example, the early stages of romance; others do not—love of the neighbor doesn’t seem to require strong emotional feelings; some involve those emotions some times, but not at others and nevertheless are still love—marital love may be an example.

There are also different kinds of love depending on the relation of those involved: love of a spouse, love of a child, love of a friend, and love for the neighbor are all different, and there are probably other kinds of love as well.

The word translated “Comforter” could also be translated “advocate” or “defender.” How is the Holy Ghost a comforter? How is he an advocate or defender? Note that though we usually use the word “comfort” to mean “solace,” it originally meant “assistance” or “aide.” (Its roots mean “strength with.”) The latter meaning is probably that intended by the King James translators.

To what time period is Jesus referring in verse 19? to the time after his resurrection, to the Second Coming, or to some other time?

The other Judas (Jude or Judah) asks a natural question in verse 22: how will we be able to see you if the world cannot? What is Jesus’ answer in verse 23? When will the disciples see Jesus? What does that mean to us? When do we/will we see him?

Verse 1: Are there connections between the Tree of Life imagery of the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon (Jacob 5), and the analogy that Christ makes here? Are there connections with what we learn from the story of the Garden of Eden?

Verses 2-3: What literal fruit does Jesus have in mind when he gives this analogy? Does that suggest any connection to the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper? What else might the fruit of the vine stand for symbolically?

What does it mean for a branch of the vine to be taken away? What does it mean for a branch to be purged? The word we would use today is “prune,” but the word translated “purge” in verse 2 is the same word translated “clean” in verse 3. When you prune branches on a vine, what do you do to them? When were the disciples made clean or purged?

Is this related to the foot washing of chapter 13? (See John 13:5.) How has Christ’s word made them clean? What does the word “word” mean in this context?

Verse 4: The word translated “abide” means “to remain with” or “to wait for.” Which of those meanings do you think best fits here? Does the analogy of vines and branches suggest one of those over the other?

What happens to a branch that is taken from the vine? How do vines and branches abide in each other, and what has that to do with producing fruit?

What fruit does Jesus expect from those to whom he is speaking when he gives this analogy?

Verses 5-6: The Greek word translated “without” at the end of verse 5 means literally “separated from.” We could probably translate this clause as “severed from me you can do nothing.” How is that true of the branch? How is it true of us?

How has the Father loved Christ? What information does scripture give us about how the Father loves the Son? What do passages like John 3:16, which tell how the Father loves us, suggest about how he loves the Son?

Does the Father’s love for Christ allow him to escape suffering? Why or why not? What does that mean about the Savior’s love for us?

Why do we remain in Christ’s love if we keep the commandments? Is it because he withdraws his love from us if we don’t keep them? Or is it because we withdraw ourselves from that love?

When Jesus says he has kept his Father’s commandments, is he speaking of anything in particular or of the commandments in general? Did he have commandments that we do not have?

Verse 11: Jesus says that he has spoken “these things” so that the disciples’ joy might be full. To what does “these things” refer? How does this verse help us understand 2 Nephi 2:25: “Men are, that they might have joy”?

Verses 12-14: How is this commandment related to the commandments he mentioned in verse 10? Is it an additional commandment or the summary of them? How is the discussion that we see in verses 10-13 related to Jesus’ discussion with the lawyer in Luke 10:25-28? How has Christ loved them? What does this have to do with the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46? Does verse 14 mean that Christ has laid down his life only for those who keep his commandments? If not, what does it mean? If so, how can that be since no one has kept all of the commandments except Christ?

Verse 15: How are we to understand what Jesus says here in light of what he said about servants in Luke 22:24-27? “I have called you friends” is a reasonable translation, but “I have called you beloved” might be more accurate. Why does Christ tell them that he now will speak of them differently than he has? What explanation of that change does he give?

Why is important to them to know that he has made known to them everything that he has heard from the Father? If he has taught them everything that the Father has told him, what does that suggest about the things we learn in the New Testament?

Verse 16: As used here, the phrase “I have chosen you” means “I have chosen you for a purpose.” The primary meaning of the word translated “ordain” is “to place.” How is to be ordained to be placed or put somewhere?

For what purpose does this verse say that the disciples have been chosen? Where have they been placed?

Why is important for him to remind them that they have not chosen him, but he has chosen them? What does that mean to us?

Here is one way of understanding what this verse says: “I have chosen you and given you authority so that you can bear fruit and so that your fruit can remain (this is the same Greek word translated “abide” and “continue” earlier). And I want your fruit to remain so that the Father can give you whatever you ask for.” Is that what it means? If not, what does it mean? In either case, explain what Jesus is teaching in this verse.

How does our election and ordination make it possible for us to bear fruit? How does it make it possible for that fruit to remain? Why do we have to have fruit that remains for the Father to give us what we ask?

Verse 17: Does this verse mean “I command you to love one another” or does it mean” I command you these things so that you will love one another?” If the former, why is he repeating this one more time, seemingly out of context. If the latter, how does bearing fruit that lasts make it possible for us to love one another?

Verses 18-25: What does “the world” mean in these verses? (Compare, for example, John 8:12 and 23, 4:42, 12:25, and 17:6; and 1 John 2:15-16.) How did the world show its hate for the disciples in the early Church? Does it hate Christians today? How so, if it does? What point is Jesus making in verse 20? Why do those who follow Jesus need to know what these verses teach?

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